“… Remember, that what we’re facing with – faced with in Sri Lanka is 260,000 people displaced because of a civil war, hundreds of thousands seeking to return to the part of Sri Lanka they used to live in. The matters I discussed with their President this afternoon and the particular needs which exist within that country for housing. But on top of that, if you’re dealing with these challenges…”

Rally to welcome refugeesSay no to Rudd’s Indonesian Solution!
Let them land, let them stay!

12.30pm Monday 2 November. Immigration Department, Lee St (Railway Square end of Central Tunnel), City. Speakers include: Sylvia Hale (NSW Greens MP), Tamil Association, Ian Rintoul (Refugee Action Coalition). The bipartisan demonisation of asylum seekers has provoked feelings of deja vu among many people who thought we’d never again see Tampa-style dramas on the high seas. But as each day passes, it is becoming clear that Kevin Rudd’s ‘Indonesia Solution’ is every bit as inhumane (and expensive) as John Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution’. Despite the refugee rights movement winning victories such as children out of detention and the end of Temporary Protection Visas, it’s clear that we have a long way to go before Australia can claim it has humanitarian immigration and refugee policies.

Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers beat a mentally ill Tamil youth and forced the youth to drown near the sea near Bambalapitya, Colombo, railway station Thursday. The youth was identified as Balavarnam Sivakumar, 26, of Ratmalana, according to media reports in Colombo, which belatedly listed the youth’s identity. “The entire country [Sri Lanka] watched in horror, as a group of heavily built men attacked the mentally unstable [Tamil] youth with wooden poles while he pleaded for mercy, when it was telecast on several news bulletins on Thursday night,” Daily Mirror said. More